The Scream
by MyScarlettLady
Summary: Evan and Ethan Brightman test the boundaries of love, and how much it can cost you after an accident.  Characters from CP Coulter's Dalton!verse.


**Shock**

That's what the doctor's call it. That's what happens when the unexpected and the unthinkable happens. Your body shakes, your mind shuts down and your eyes stare unseeing in front of you. But yet his eyes were seeing and his mind was working a mile a minute but all he could see was his own face looking back at him, a face with lips twisting in pain as all he could hear was a scream that chilled him to his bones, seeping through his pores and freezing the blood as it flowed in his veins.

And then he realised that the lips he saw were not open in a scream, but moving, mouthing words. So where was this awful sound coming from? It sounded so much like- oh. _His_ lips were the ones from which this awful sound sang from, for the mouth he saw in front of him was shouting _at_ him to stop.

* * *

><p><strong>Panic<strong>

When Anna heard the scream she knew immediately that something was terribly wrong. She almost threw the recipe book she was reading aside in her haste to run out of the bright, sun-lit kitchen and out into the garden towards the horrible screaming noise.

The nanny skidded to a halt and looked on in horror. One of the boys had fallen from the tree house and lay on the ground beneath whilst the other, still high up in the branches, was screaming. One of the blond boy's legs was lying at an odd angle to one side and she knew immediately that it was broken. He was fighting back the urge to cry, that much was obvious and yet he seemed far more intent on calming down his twin, who remained up in the tree house. The screaming suddenly stopped and the boy in the tree looked down at the very image of himself lying on the grass as if he couldn't quite believe it was happening.

* * *

><p><strong>Urgency<strong>

Mr Brightman was a busy man. He dealt with important matters and important people and everyone knew it. So when his personal assistant hurried into his office and told him to pick up line three, he was surprised to say the least. That was the home line and his wife was out, Anna only called him when it was very important and that was why he hired her. She knew when to call him and when not to. What was professional and what could be left for his assistant to deal with later.

When she told him that she and the twins were at the hospital, he simply said that he would be there soon and to notify his wife. She informed him that she already had and hung up. He simply put the phone down and made another call.

* * *

><p><strong>Annoyance<strong>

Mrs Brightman had been happily sipping cocktails, gossiping and playing tennis with Senator Wright's latest young wife Michelle and therefore wasn't too pleased when her cell phone rang. She was even less pleased to learn it was the nanny. It was only after the phone rang for the third time in under five minutes that Michelle gently asked her if she was going to answer it that she finally did, putting the call onto speaker.

She chose to accept Michelle's offer to drive her to the hospital when she saw the younger woman putting a very quiet Logan in the back of her car.

* * *

><p><strong>Quiet<strong>

The two blond boys sat quietly outside the room, swinging their short legs which struggled to touch the lineum floor as they perched on the plastic leather seats. Neither boy had said a word after they had been ushered out of the room by the grown-ups, but then again, Evan hadn't said a word since his brother slipped on the ladder. He turned to the boy beside him and said in a small voice, "Logan, I need you to do me a favour. I need you to go get me a doctor."

The with the bright-green eyes nodded and walked back towards the room whilst the boy with the grey eyes turned and walked the other way down the corridor.

* * *

><p><strong>Shock<strong>

That's what the doctor's call it. That's what happens when the unexpected and the unthinkable happens. Your body shakes, your mind shuts down and your eyes stare unseeing in front of you. But these eyes were seeing and his mind was working a mile a minute but all he could see was his own face looking back at him, a face with lips twisting into words he couldn't process.

Evan and Ethan did everything together. They didn't have a single memory in which the other was not present or an experience in which the other didn't share. So when Ethan broke his leg when he fell from the tree house ladder, Evan broke his leg too. Only Evan threw himself down some hospital stairs to achieve it. They were even identical breaks on the same leg. This terrified Ethan. When he found out what Evan had done, he was so afraid. What if Evan had gotten seriously hurt? He couldn't bear the thought.

When people always said that the only way to tell them apart was by the fact that Evan was springier, more flexible, this is only partially true. Ethan just wasn't prepared to take the risk of having his twin hurt himself for him ever again.

They were identical in every way

but one.

* * *

><p>So, that's something different. Different from my usual style, different central characters and a different type of love. (I'm certainly not throwing up rainbows and glitter like I have on previous stories.)<p>

Still, let me know what you think, please?

~ Sarah x


End file.
